Here are the links to the two sets of videos currently listed on my youtube site. Below the links you will find introductions to these two sets of videos.
The Existence of God
A Personal Testimony
1. http://youtu.be/32U9TrBtLG8
2. http://youtu.be/eTne1rlpEms
3. http://youtu.be/LLJfrb2uass
4. http://youtu.be/SbQ3FfgLGIg
5. http://youtu.be/Zqcjxq926rE
The Holy Eucharist
1. The Holy Eucharist, Introduction https://youtu.be/OlRyUl-c0QA
2. How God Saves, Part One https://youtu.be/WSjxsbUOI_A
3. How God Saves, Part Two https://youtu.be/7eACnL3kiDM
4. The Pattern of Early Christian Worship https://youtu.be/q9USxDCAMZA
5. Eucharist as Covenant Renewal https://youtu.be/8X95614rSDc
6. Passover and the Holy Eucharist https://youtu.be/hpmV9IEP6rc
7. Eucharist as Healing https://youtu.be/cU6wDEgFas0
8. The Lord's Supper in John's Gospel https://youtu.be/obpbQyqGv70
9. Eucharist as Restoration of Eden https://youtu.be/-Vg9I83FARA
10. Eucharist as Deliverance from Evil https://youtu.be/h4Sl4HPybNQ
11. Eucharist as the Dawn of the Age to Come https://youtu.be/7EWRy5T6cYM
12. Eucharist as a Direction of Service https://youtu.be/AJmfNW_zUxc
13. Eucharist as the Highest Form of Fellowship https://youtu.be/CVUQcxPPV-Y
Introductory Comments on the Existence of God Videos
These five videos on the existence of God give the intellectual and experiential journey I made over the course of years, going from childhood faith (or rather ignorance), to atheism, both intellectual and practical, to belief in God with Jesus as the way to the Father.
In the process a number of issues are addressed by the videos. First, many discussions of atheism versus belief in God do not actually entail living the alternatives. For example, many atheists write books and speak out against theism, but even so, they have their gods. True atheism has no gods at all, none of any kind. Whatever drives you to get up in the morning is, for all practical purposes, your god. The atheists whose books one normally reads have their gods -- their academic and social respectability, their financial emoluments and comforts, their pleasures of various kinds, and much, much more. They are not true atheists. Similarly, many believers in God the Father of Jesus Christ are pursuing many of the same gods. This is normally true of those whose writings or videos appear in public.
To be an atheist in the full sense is to be a complete nihilist, and although I did not sink into complete nihilism, I did enter into a state that was not far from nihilism, and from there, through a series of experiences and conceptual advances, climbed out into a position of faith. Most proponents of belief in God usually start with some form of belief, the authority of the Bible, the validity of proofs, the fact of creation, and so forth. Most of these arguments for the existence of God seem to me to shed very little light on the matter, and even if one accepts the logic of these approaches, one is often left with an abstraction and not a living God. How does one order one's life according to an uncaused cause? Can one really know an uncaused cause?
The videos also address the issue of theodicy, which to me is the only real issue against the existence of the Christian God. It is not really an argument against God, but against an all-powerful and all-loving God. I find most Christian responses to theodicy unworthy of God, arguments that freedom entails suffering and so forth. There is a way forward, however, namely to live in faith that God will resolve the matter even if we do not understand how. In the meantime, one can know the living God of love.
The issue of epistemology is discussed in the videos, how knowing God differs from knowing other things. This is important as knowing God is different from knowing things, or knowing facts about God as given, for example, in the Bible or other sources.
The divinity of Christ and his uniqueness is also addressed, as well as how this can be known. This is a very important aspect of what is found on the videos.
There are a few things in the videos that need to be clarified and there are some errors as well. I stated that I left my fantasy world in the eight grade and begin to seek Truth. At the age of thirteen I certainly wasn't thinking I was looking for Truth. Only years later, looking back, did I see that Truth was what was driving me. Also, I'm not sure I introduced the relevance of the free will versus determinism debate clearly. My decision in regard to this debate at about the age of sixteen was the germ that, after some fifteen years, led to my rejecting reductionistic approaches to Truth, specifically, that the experience of God can be explained by other categories. Freud's, The Future of an Illusion, is an example. I misquoted Shakespeare in describing Anthony. I think the correct quote should have been, "He drank the stale of the gilded puddle and ate the rude bark of trees." Also, I think I said that Miranda saw Caliban and exclaimed "O brave new world," when it was Ferdinand that she had seen. There is one exaggeration where I got carried away. I said that I while in graduate school in Kansas I was dressed in rags. I paid little attention to what I wore, and certainly looked rather worn, but I do not remember wearing rags. Other than that, I think everything else is accurate.
Finally, this is a very human story, one that should resonate with all of us. We need to love and be loved and that is the heart of the matter.
There are five of videos on the existence of God, and since they tell a story, they are best seen in order as given above.
Introductory Comments on the Holy Eucharist Videos
Discussions of the Holy Eucharist are often highly theological since these discussion frequently address issues that arose at the time of the Reformation. At that time Roman Catholic views of the Eucharist were challenged by Protestants, and from that time onward, the debate has not ceased. These debates are important, and if the reader would like to know my thought on these matters, please see the essay In Remembrance of Me.
Although the videos given here begin with a theological and biblical perspective as a foundation, the primary emphasis is not so much theological, but rather, to describe what God does in the Holy Eucharist. I present that perspective because I am convinced that many churches are not aware of what God does in Eucharist, nor do they offer Eucharist according to the ancient pattern of Christian worship. These videos are given in the hope that churches will adopt the ancient pattern and teach the people how to meet God in the Holy Eucharist. Above all, these videos describe how God speaks, acts, and appears in Eucharist, and how his people are called to respond. This is absolutely vital for the Holy Eucharist brings believers before the very throne of God, together with angels and archangels and the company of heaven. This is the final and decisive reality, the eschatological reality, and therefore teaching on Eucharist is of the highest importance.
The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
September, 2014
